1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image processing apparatuses, additional-information notification systems, image information communication systems and image processing methods, and particularly to image processing apparatuses, additional-information notification systems, image information communication systems and image processing methods that facilitate information management.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image processing apparatus a storage device such as a hard disk is employed to store read image information or image information received through a communication function.
Furthermore, a technique used to sort received information for each destination is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-196206. More specifically, the document discloses a facsimile device including the step of sorting received, faxed information, and having a technique to sort received information into divided, address-only boxes for each address recognized from the received information.
Furthermore, in recent years, a printing device, a scanner device and a facsimile device that are combined together, or a so-called multi-function peripheral MFP) or other similar image processing apparatus is used for example to store data read via the scanner device and transmit such data to another image processing apparatus.
In such a conventional image processing apparatus, received data to be printed, faxed data or the like may not be printed out and instead be stored as electronic data. In such a case, the electronic data is stored to a sortation storage that stores information sorted for each individual or each prescribed department.
Normally, such a sortation storage is referred to for example as a box, and this box has added thereto a box name or the like corresponding to additional information. A box with such a box name is stored to an image processing apparatus by performing a prescribed registration operation in the apparatus.
If an image processing apparatus has a scanner function an image read via the scanner function can be sorted into the aforementioned box and stored as electronic data. Furthermore, received faxed data is sorted and stored as electronic data. After an appropriate period of time has elapsed, the stored electronic data is printed out by the apparatus.
However, when such a conventional processing apparatus is operated to create the aforementioned box it cannot reference boxes of other networked image processing apparatuses to create a box having a new box name. This can result in the apparatus erroneously registering a box having added thereto a box name identical or similar to a box that another apparatus has.
Furthermore, an image processing apparatus of interest can disadvantageously be prevented from registering therewith a box having a box name similar to a box that another image processing apparatus has. Thus the user cannot register a box name as intended.
Furthermore, the conventional image processing apparatus cannot print out directly on a sheet the electronic data stored in a box of a remote image processing apparatus. To allow the apparatus of interest to print such data it is necessary to once obtain the data for the apparatus. This involves a waiting time corresponding to an amount of electronic data before the data is obtained from the remote location and the user must wait in front of the image processing apparatus.